Source: Netgalley
Genre: Romance, Choose-your-own-adventure
My Rating:
The romance novel that lets you pick your path, follow your heart, and find happily ever after
You are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of eighteenth-century society, courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand. Will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet Sir Benedict Granville? Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving highlander Captain Angus McTaggart? Or perhaps race through the chapters chasing a good (and arousing) man gone mad, bad, and scandalous to know, Lord Garraway Craven? Or read on recklessly and take to the Continent as the “traveling companion” of the spirited and adventuresome Lady Evangeline? Or yet some other intriguing fate? Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining!) storylines. And in every path you pick, beguiling illustrations bring all the lust and love to life.
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.
Choose-your-own-adventure kind of brings to mind Goosebumps. I distinctly remember those books as a kid. I think my brother got one from the library and we ended up both reading it because how could we not, really? I think they’re the only ones I’d heard of really and then I stumbled across My Lady’s Choosing on Netgalley on Monday and the rest, as they say, was history.
This was a ridiculous book in the best kind of way. You get to star in your very own romance and you get to decide what kind of romantic adventure you’ll be going on. There's the traditional historical romance with you as the poor unassuming woman with hidden charms (everyone seems to be totally into you… I mean everyone) and you can catch the eye of the most eligible bachelor in society. Or you can travel off to the wilds of Scotland to solve a mystery and charm a brooding Scotsman. Or maybe an adventure as a ladies companion in Egypt is more your style? And let’s not forget the epic Jane Eyre style gothic romance with the dark brooding misunderstand gent living in wild Yorkshire. You really get it all and that is brilliant.
I think you can tell that both Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris love romance. Sure, the book is a bit of a parody of romance books themselves, but it’s also a love letter to them. In a number of short stories they capture the tropes and the ridiculous story elements we all see repeatedly and roll our eyes at but also include all the thing we love. We love seeing the poor girl who is an underdog and would in reality be left with few options to choose from for her future become the master of her destiny and go off on an adventure (or several, as the case maybe).
I admit, I tried to read through as many of the adventures as I could, although I am certain I missed a few, and I found there were some I enjoyed more than others. There were some, like the gothic adventure with Lord Craven, which seemed to end far too abruptly for my liking. it felt rushed through and underdeveloped, and there were others which felt so well developed and and really showed that a well written can appear in a book which is just 300 odd pages long, you know? I think maybe that was partially me and my own romance preferences shining through, though. Sure, some of the endings were not my jam (look, that gothic story just didn’t work for me, and although there was another ending I liked I didn’t like the character I ended up with).
This is a book with an ending for (almost) anybody. like the witty banter in romance? Then Benedict Granville is for you. Like the scary misunderstood rich man? Lord Craven might be for you. Want a sexy highland romp with a Scotsman with secrets? Definitely follow Angus MacTaggart. There is even a few unexpected romances too. I quite enjoyed my adventure to Egypt with Lady Evangaline which had a couple of unexpected romances. Really, it’s a laugh and this light and fun book is a great read. Definitely the kind of book you can gift a friend who loves romance you can laugh over as you each find different endings. I am so glad I got a chance to read as I might never have found this otherwise.
Have you read any choose-your-own-adventure books? And have you read this or are you interested in reading? Tell me all!
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